A week on and he is still improving, back to hand feeding in the morning which is good. Now and again he seems to dart around but only for a few seconds and then he settles again, it is becoming much less frequent as well.
Interestingly, I went to the lfs to see the old Plec and he too seems to be more settled - he likes having his nose tickled now - something we'd have never managed while we had him. He sticks to the side of the tank with his nose at the top wating for attention! The owner is thinking about keeping him rather then selling him on again.
So, good news for both fish I think.
Fahaka behaving strangely, looks spooked
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
Read this before posting!!
Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.
1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.
2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.
3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)
4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.
5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.
We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.
While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.
Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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grubbster
- Puffer Fry
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Re: Fahaka behaving strangely, looks spooked
Today was water change day, I have never left it 2 weeks before so I did a water test beforehand.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
So still very good, I still did about 20% change though. Instead of being spooked, this time Clarkson was cautiously interested in what I was doing, he'd swim around the vac cleaner (and my hand!) now and again. This has to be good news, he is growong in confidence again. He still has a way to go - he can still be a bit jumpy (and I do worry about the way he crashes into the heater/sides/lid sometimes) but each day seems better than the last. He looks beautiful as well, really brightly coloured
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
So still very good, I still did about 20% change though. Instead of being spooked, this time Clarkson was cautiously interested in what I was doing, he'd swim around the vac cleaner (and my hand!) now and again. This has to be good news, he is growong in confidence again. He still has a way to go - he can still be a bit jumpy (and I do worry about the way he crashes into the heater/sides/lid sometimes) but each day seems better than the last. He looks beautiful as well, really brightly coloured
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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Re: Fahaka behaving strangely, looks spooked
Great post Nick! Water changes can only inprove your water quality, not change it for the worse. If you do enough of them, they will remain almost as clean as your tap water (ummm... not that I'd drink it...)! Especially since this tank has not been cycled, please keep up with them daily.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
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grubbster
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:48 pm
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Re: Fahaka behaving strangely, looks spooked
PP - what tank are you referring to that isn't cycled and advising to do a daily water change? Mine is fully cycled and has been fine for ages 